Does partition software generally make 100% sure it is only partitioning away free space ?

Does the software move files away from the end of one partition to create the next partition before doing anything else ?

Should you defragment before partitioning ? (presumably it is a smart idea). In any special way ?

Does this question vary a lot between software products ?

Do you find any great functional fundamental distinction between the Windows products (Paragon, Easeus, Aomei, etc.) and the more tech partition stuff like Terabyte (Bootit) that works outside Windows ?

In the old days it made a difference where you started partitioning (e.g. in XP or underneath). Is that a factor today ?

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I always hesitate a bit before partitioning a system, presumably I have a good OS resinstall handy and allthe important data backed up as well, preferably including early images after the OS install and maybe thefinal, current image. More important than images, the data should be backed up in individual files. (I do nottrust images completely, although some image software includes file-by-file as an alternative.)

Granted there are functional differences in products, (e.g. a Pro product compared to Lite or Free will show you some differences, as will reviews) and there are differences in support and cost. It seems like the software hasgenerally become fairly good. One feature I noticed is that some software may be stronger than others in simplymoving x gigabytes of space from one partition to another.

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Your thoughts ?

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My short-term attempt is to take my lightly used Windows 7 64-bit puter and add a d: and some drives for a linux install. And I may do similar on a spare older XP system.

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Here are some notes about free space.

"Partition Manager 11 Free Edition For personal use only The safest tool for hard drive partitioning! Partitioning is not for amateurs. That is why millions of people have trusted our safe, stable technology and professional software solutions for over 15 years. Our latest 11 version easily organizes your hard drive and redistributes free space to enhance system performance."

"Aomei Partition Assistant ...Allocate Free Space - Allocate free space from one partition to another for making the best use of disk space."

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Aomei is the new kid on the partition block. The reviews have been pretty good, the company is friendly in correspondence.

They do not at this time have forums like Paragon and Easeus. I may ask them their plans in this regard. Forums on a product like this means that the company is willing to face the public, and can have lots of helpful info. Dunno if any other windows products have forums, but Terabyte definitely does.

Along with the three mentioned as the main Windows-based programs, (Paragon, Easeus, Aomei, all active in promotions) Partition Wizard (positive from freewaregenius) also looks like it is quite interesting, so maybe that is a big 4. Partition Commander is from Avanquest, Partition Genius from Spotmau (not sure if active development-update). These programs should all have a CD-type alternative as part of their system. Any others of real note ?

While Parted Magic (GParted and Parted) and then also Partition Logic and Ranish are examples of below Windows tools. Terabyte seems to lead that section, as a commercial product with a fine reputation. You could probably add a gazillion Linux-style tools.

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I noticed a complaint with one about losing a Symantec serial #. So probably some programs look at free space through the Windows file system, and some programs do security in a hidden manner. And you could be forced to try to re-enter the numbers (be sure you keep them). I doubt that it would be easy for a partition software to do anything, since the software product will be pointing to that spot made defunct.

I can't answer much right now (sneaking in a quick break at work) but I'll say that I have been using Paragon products for years and they have never let me down . The free versions have all the basics covered, but I have even purchased several of the pay-for products to get the extras. I've bought the server based versions for use at work as well.

I have also had our company buy the Easeus product - we just needed the basics and a site license was less expensive than the comparable Paragon product.

AOMEI Technology released AOMEI Partition Assistant version 5.0 on 28th May 2012, in this new version 5.0, it was added in many new and practical functions to solve many hot and common problems with ease.

Features list:

1. Six built-in Wizards:a. Migrate OS to SSD/HDD Wizard—New!The simple wizard will guide you how to migrate Operating Systems to SSD (Solid State Drive) with ease.b. Partition Recovery Wizard—New!This wizard could let you know how to recover lost or deleted partitions step by step.c. Make Bootable CD Wizard—New!Manage disk partitions under WinPE 3.0 disk and based on the safer operation.d. Extend Partition Wizard—Hot!This wizard could help users extend system partition, fix low disk space, resize partition with one-click.e. Disk Copy Wizard Upgrade/Replace hard drive without reinstalling Windows Operating System and applications, etc.f. Partition Copy WizardBackup partitions to protect data from losing.

Does partition software generally make 100% sure it is only partitioning away free space ?

Generally yes, however that shouldn't stop you from checking at least twice exactly what is going to happen once you click the GO button.

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Does the software move files away from the end of one partition to create the next partition before doing anything else ?

No. By this question I'm assuming you're talking about creating a new partition on a drive that's already in use. You should resize existing partitions to create the free space you require for the new partition. Only the Resize/Move functions of partitioning software will move files, anything else will generally destroy.

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Should you defragment before partitioning ? (presumably it is a smart idea). In any special way ?

For a drive with existing partitions that you want to keep, yes. For a drive in which you intend to delete all or some partitions to create free space for new partition(s), no.

ie. If you intend to use Resize/Move to create enough space for a new partition, then you might gain a little speed by defragging first. However, when you factor in the time for defragging + partition resizing/moving against just a straight resize/move - is there a net gain?This will depend on whether you do your partition butchering with the OS online or offline.Offline - you have the benefit of the OS not interfering with your operations but may lose the benefit of better interface drivers, (hence speed).Online - you have the benefit of possibly better interface drivers but the OS might require you to restart to complete the operations anyway.

Generally, I do all partition operations offline.

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Does this question vary a lot between software products ?

Depends on driver support generally but otherwise, no.

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Do you find any great functional fundamental distinction between the Windows products (Paragon, Easeus, Aomei, etc.) and the more tech partition stuff like Terabyte (Bootit) that works outside Windows ?

No, since they almost always provide a version that lets you do it all with the OS offline. eg. Paragon has a bootable Linux version for both their free/pay versions - pay versions also get a WinPE based version which has better driver support.

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In the old days it made a difference where you started partitioning (e.g. in XP or underneath). Is that a factor today ?

I haven't found it to be.

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Granted there are functional differences in products, (e.g. a Pro product compared to Lite or Free will show you some differences, as will reviews) and there are differences in support and cost. It seems like the software hasgenerally become fairly good. One feature I noticed is that some software may be stronger than others in simplymoving x gigabytes of space from one partition to another.

===========================

Your thoughts ?

Before I partition anything to do with the drive the OS is on, I will make an offline image of the OS partition, (or the whole drive if the partition occupies the whole drive - <40GB in total), to an external drive - in my case I just boot into Paragon HDM11Pro on an external and do everything from there, (backup/partitioning).For any other drive, (ie. data drives), I'll just make sure that any data I don't want to lose is backed up - which isn't much compared to the size of the drives, (~200GB out of a total of ~4TB). A Microserver takes care of OS and essential data backup, (monthly, weekly and daily), and I also have a 640GB USB3 drive that triggers a data backup when it's plugged in.Anything else, I'm prepared to wear the loss, (eg. Steam games, downloads, etc), because I just look at it as I probably needed to clean the drive out anyway - even the OS falls under that category, it's not essential to back it up, just convenient.

These days the quality of software amongst the various big names, (Acronis, Paragon, EASUS, etc), are reasonably equivalent - the only major difference I've found is in the drivers they provide, (for offline), since these will determine the speed at which operations will get done.

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My short-term attempt is to take my lightly used Windows 7 64-bit puter and add a d: and some drives for a linux install. And I may do similar on a spare older XP system.

My recommendation from the times I've dabbled with a Linux install is to create all the partitions first, ie. root, user and swap. When it comes to installing, the Linux installer will find those partitions and automatically use them instead of throwing you into the installers partitioning tool.